Got sleep? Nearly half of Americans are in short supply

Jon Gitlin1 min read

Does this sound familiar? You stay late at the office to work on a project and decide to get a few drinks with friends before you go home. Before bed, you cozy up on the couch to squeeze in one last episode of Game of Thrones. Before you know it, the alarm rings, prompting you to get up and prepare for the gym.

If this sounds like a regular Tuesday, you're probably one of the millions of Americans who don’t get enough sleep. Why? As we’re faced with a multitude of commitments and distractions every day, we allow ourselves to de-prioritize and neglect sleep.

We got curious about how Americans snooze, so we partnered with Thrive Global and Axios to quiz respondents from our Audience panel directly using SurveyMonkey.

What are you curious about? Use SurveyMonkey Audience to use surveys to ask anyone pretty much anything. ﻿

Here’s what we’ve learned:

Nearly half of Americans aren’t sleeping well, and they know it

Only 47% of our respondents get between 7-9 hours of sleep a night. Nearly that same percentage of overall respondents say they get "the right amount" of sleep.

In spite of the fact that nearly half of our respondents knowingly skimp on sleep, the majority—86% of respondents—say they recognize the importance of a good night's rest.

So why is the amount of sleep we get lacking when we know how important it is? Blame it on work. And our phones aren’t helping either.

Choosing work over sleep

Nearly half of our respondents—49%—believe that sacrificing sleep is necessary in order to be successful in their industry.

Notifications from colleagues, friends, and family can feel important—leading Americans to keep their phones close by, even when they’re asleep.

Over 70% of respondents sleep with their phones near their beds, with the figure at 90% among Millennials. Even more striking is that 83% of respondents who work more than 50 hours a week sleep with their phones near their bed.

It looks like technology is quite literally getting in the way of Americans’ dreams.

Take the quiz yourself to see how you score. It may be just the wake-up call you need to unplug a bit—whether it's from your job or from your devices.